Date: Wed, Mar 12, 2014

Elon Musk is an innovator–probably everyone who’s picked up the business pages recently knows that. Not that I’ve ever driven a Tesla, but I am a huge fan of everything he’s doing. While the gigafactory, the hyperloop and the electronic car that goes 0 – 60 in 5.6 seconds may have gotten most of the […]

Date: Fri, Mar 7, 2014

Which state is the thirstiest for wine? It’s a question we’ve noodled before as Washington DC is the thirstiest non-state in the nation! The good folks at Business Insider have taken the initiative to produce this handy map showing comparative wine consumption data, which they also list in a table. (Since the data relate to […]

Date: Fri, Mar 7, 2014

This week, Olivier Cousin went before a judge. The heinous crime of the pony-tailed vigneron? Truth in labeling. Here’s the story (which we’ve mentioned before but it’s worth a recap): Cousin farms 12 acres organically–neigh, biodynamically for Cousin who tills his vineyards with horse-drawn plows. In those vineyards in the town of Anjou, he has […]

Date: Thu, Mar 6, 2014

Robert Parker (not Tony) standing with Yao Ming (Image removed–see update below) Robert Parker’s “World Tour” of Asia continues. And while it may be hedonistic fruit bombs poured from the importer “partners” by day, Parker drops the chat room bombs late at night. Evidence #1, comments about the wines Eric Asimov (NYT) and Jon Bonne […]

Date: Tue, Mar 4, 2014

Here’s a funny informercial for what may or may not be a good product: the Vingarde Valise, quote, luggage for wine geeks. The campy video is kind of funny–who doesn’t like to see a case of wine kicked down a flight of stairs and live to tell the tale? Maybe he should take this to […]

Date: Fri, Feb 28, 2014

Domaine de l’Ecu, a conscientious estate in Muscadet that makes some of the region’s best wines, has had one of their wines rejected by an approval committee. To have the right to bear the appellation, a French wine must meet all the rules, which pertain to things like which vines can be planted in a […]

Date: Tue, Feb 25, 2014

“When I retire, I don’t want to see the wine writing profession wither away.” That was one of the many provocative things that Robert Parker said before–get this–a room of wine writers (which prompted some chortles on twitter about new career paths). Granted, wine writing and journalism more generally have changed since Parker was at […]

Date: Mon, Feb 24, 2014

The rain in California falls mostly in the winter. I think that’s how it went in Pygmalion. At any rate, the rain has decidedly NOT been falling this off-season for the vines. While that doesn’t necessarily spell doom for California’s wine industry–some older vines have deep roots–it does mean less water to go around and […]

Date: Fri, Feb 21, 2014

A committee in the French Senate declared the obvious this week in adding an amendment that would make wine an official part of French heritage. Cries of “um, duh!” could be heard in the land that makes some of the best wines in the world today and up until fifty years ago had a per […]

Date: Tue, Feb 18, 2014

SIPPED: Jancis Robinson argues in favor of the “classics” over wines from obscure grapes just for the sense of obscurity. Twitter fight ensues. SPIT: Eric Asimov tells how to find obscure wines (hint: wine-searcher). SPIT: me. After I shrugged at the White House wine selections, commenters from Walla Walla descended on this blog (and Facebook) […]

Date: Thu, Feb 13, 2014

Game time: see if you can correctly identify the photo of an official state wine cellar with the correct country, US, UK, and France. Okay, okay, it’s photographic hyperbole — but the White House really doesn’t have a wine cellar to speak of. Downing Street (top) buys the wines on release and stores them for […]

Date: Tue, Feb 11, 2014

Breaking from tradition, the White House announced the wines to be served at tonight’s state dinner honoring President Francois Hollande and Madame–oh nevermind. So instead of engaging in subterfuge or speculation, we have the list. Here they are: Morlet “La Proportion Doree” 2011 — Napa Valley, California (find this wine) Chester-Kidder Red Blend 2009 — […]

Date: Mon, Feb 10, 2014

When fear of wine counterfeits remains high in the wine wine auction market, bidders will pay a premium for wines with superlative provenance. Such was the case with the Burgundies from the H. B. Harris collection, which fetched $7.5 million over the weekend in Chicago at Hart Davis Hart. Harris, a real estate developer known […]

Date: Thu, Feb 6, 2014

Wine enthusiasts know that where grape vines grow can contribute to the flavors of the resulting wine. But Pedro Parra has decided to dig a little deeper: the “terroir consultant” has excavated over 20,000 holes to study vineyard soils. Based in Chile but trained in Paris, the Chilean has more views about soil than your […]